President and CEO

Dr. Kernaghan was appointed the President and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, London on October 4, 2010. She is a highly respected physician and administrative leader known for her medical, educational and system leadership at local, regional, provincial and national levels. During her tenure, St. Joseph’s has completed 17 years of restructuring directives resulting in a new diverse role for St. Joseph’s on multiple sites. She has championed the achievement of the organization's vision focused on “Earning Complete Confidence” grounded in the values of respect, excellence and compassion.

Prior to assuming this role, Dr. Kernaghan served as the Integrated Vice President, Medical Education and Medical Affairs for both LHSC and St. Joseph’s for five years. Among her many accomplishments in this role, she facilitated the alignment and integration of medical departments with Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and championed leadership development through training many physicians and hospital leaders in key leadership skills. She acted as the hospitals’ pandemic incident manager through both SARS and H1N1 and led a city-wide hand hygiene campaign that saw 40 to 50 percent increases in compliance across hospital sites within two years.

Dr. Kernaghan is frequently sought as a speaker, moderator and expert on a range of health care subjects, including physician-hospital relations, changing roles in the health care system, effective risk and pandemic management, leadership, and health ethics issues. She is an associate professor at Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and adjunct professor in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University. She is also currently on faculty teaching an Advanced Physician Manager Institute course for the Canadian Medical Association on Talent Management. She is a past president of the Canadian Society of Physician Executives and was a member of the Canadian Medical Association’s liaison committee which developed the first Canadian Certified Physician Executive Credential.

Dr. Kernaghan currently serves on the Ontario Hospital Association Board of Directors and on the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario, and has been an active leader in numerous provincial health system initiatives, including: the Ontario Hospital Association’s initiative to develop their first quality and patient safety strategic plan; the Physician Assistant Implementation Steering Committee; and the Provincial Academic Health Science Centre Alternate Funding Plan Steering Committee. She also served as the inaugural chair of the Ontario Council of Teaching Hospitals senior medical leaders’ forum. Dr. Kernaghan is a past board member of the Canadian Residency Matching Service and has served as treasurer of the board for the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Kernaghan was Vice President, Medical and Professional Affairs at St. Joseph’s for five years. In this role, she was responsible for all medical affairs functions and the professional staff, and developed professional practice and physician leader models for the organization. Between 1993 and 1997, Dr. Kernaghan was Vice President, Medical Services at Parkwood Hospital and played a key role in the smooth transition of Parkwood Hospital’s amalgamation with St. Joseph’s in 1997. During her various roles as a vice president, Dr. Kernaghan has held senior leadership responsibility for a range of services including pharmacy, health records, infection control, pastoral care, ethics, professional practice, imaging, ambulatory care and other clinical areas.

Dr. Kernaghan practiced family medicine in London until 2010. While holding very busy hospital leadership responsibilities, Dr. Kernaghan continued to be a highly regarded family physician.

Dr. Kernaghan is a graduate of Western University, having earned her Doctor of Medicine (with Honours) degree in 1982. Dr. Kernaghan is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Ontario.

Renowned for compassionate care, St. Joseph's is one of the best academic health care organizations in Canada dedicated to helping people live to their fullest by minimizing the effects of injury, disease and disability through excellence in care, teaching and research.